Lately, I’ve been thinking about hobbies and how I spend my time. Over the course of someone’s lifetime, the choice in activities will more than likely change because of maturity levels, friends your around, the city you move to, and life changing events.

When I transferred to Winona State, everything about my routine changed. I up rooted and planted myself under a new roof, with unfamiliar people, and a frenetic schedule (at first). When I changed my major and dropped eight credits worth of major courses, I needed a way to kill time. In addition to getting more involved in the ministries down here, I started exercising again.

When candidly interviewing Whitechapel’s drummer on tour, Phil DuBois of Revocation referenced a common joke on the Internet about CrossFit… “It’s like the opposite of fight club, and the first rule is that you never shut up [amended] about CrossFit.” Yeah. He’s pretty much right. I know, because I do CrossFit and it’s hard to abstain from talking about it.

I started when I was browsing our University Club page, looking to alleviate boredom. I found the CrossFit club, went to their gym in town, introduced myself, and was immediately hooked after one workout! I found (and still find) something so appealing about the intensity, fast pace, and integration of multiple methods of fitness. After a year and a half of participating, I began to see a lot of parallels that made it so much more meaningful to me.

One of the shots that CrossFit gets is that it exudes a cult-like vibe. I think this is often misconstrued for community – people bonding shoulder to shoulder. Through that comes something more than workout buddies. They’re people that you see most days of the week who push you to become better. There’s a prolific bond in that. It’s also a lifestyle.

If you look at the elites in this sport – Rich Froning, Mat Fraser, Jason Khalipa, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet etc. these are people who eat, breathe, sleep, and live CrossFit. They train multiple hours a day, own their own gyms, and are saturated in the life. It’s their center. Most of us don’t have that luxury, so we make exercise part of a multi-faceted routine. It’s part of my routine, because it keeps me healthy and sane. Exercise is one of those activities where I can leave frustrations at the door and escape for an hour and a half. I can clear my head and sweat it out before I face it.

The more consistently I began to go, I felt better in a holistic sense, but I also began to see this as a spiritual discipline. I began to see a lot of dots connected, parallels drawn, and similarities between being a Christian and CrossFitter. It’s led me to this ultimate conclusion…